MULTIFAMILY INFLUENCER: National Multi Housing Council
Based in Washington, DC, the National Multi Housing Council represents the interests of the US apartment firms by advocating on federal legislative and regulatory issues and conducting apartment-related research.
Longtime advocates of the apartment industry, the National Multi Housing Council’s leadership includes ( Doug Bibby, President; Cindy Vosper Chetti, SVP of Government Affairs; Kim Duty, SVP of Public Affairs & Industry Initiatives; Mark Obrinsky, SVP, Research, and Chief Economist; and Kenny Emson, SVP of Finance and Administration.
Based in Washington, DC and headed by president Doug Bibby, the National Multi Housing Council represents the interests of the US apartment firms. It does this by advocating on federal legislative and regulatory issues and conducting apartment-related research. It is noted, for example, for its annual NMHC 50 rankings of leading apartment firms and the biannual NMHC/Kingsley Associates Renter Preferences Report, which is the industry’s largest survey with more than 272,000 respondents.
Then there are its softer but still very influential activities. For example, its Annual Meeting is a leading industry event, bringing together equity and debt providers from around the world with industry development and acquisition/disposition specialists. It also works very hard to educate stakeholders on such issues as supply shortages and rising regulatory costs. To that end, NMHC has developed award-winning public relations campaigns that combine industry data with digital marketing to influence policy. In addition, NMHC is leading efforts to provide alternative solutions to expanding rent control policies. In fact, together with the National Apartment Association, NMHC will soon release a major report on affordable housing solutions.
None of this, of course, gets done in a vacuum. Leading NMHC’s efforts in a variety of areas is a team of SVPs focusing on specific components of the industry: Cindy Chetti, Legislative Affairs; Kim Duty, Public Affairs and Industry Initiatives; chief economist Mark Obrinsky, Research; and Kenny Emson, Finance and Administration.
Perhaps the most important work NMCH does is lobbying governments for favorable policies for the industry. Here, NMHC can point to several victories. For example, when the debate over tax reform began, NMHC laid out a number of key principles aimed at preserving and promoting the multifamily business model. When the final package emerged from Capitol Hill, many of NMHC’s principals had been left intact, such as the tax reductions for pass-through entities and REIT dividends and the retention of the business interest deduction.
NMHC has also been pushing hard to accelerate the use of technology in the industry. It launched its annual OPTECH Conference and Expo 20 years ago. Since then, it has provided research and guidance on key tech issues such as short-term rental services and the Internet of Things. To continue to develop initiatives in this space, NMHC recently formed an Innovation Committee; the committee’s first project has been the launch of the NMHC Innovation Challenge, a partnership with innovation accelerating software provider Ezassi.